Even though you know what's coming, there's not a lot you can do about it.

The Northbridge High quarterback continued his splendid senior season last night with another big-play performance against Millbury High. He rushed for 116 yards and passed for 96 more as his team prevailed, 34-0, in a Division 4 semifinal at Grafton High.

The Rams will play Grafton in the Division 4 Super Bowl at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Fitchburg State University.

The victory was the 10th of the season for Northbridge and the school's 600th all-time. The Rams join Fitchburg as the only Central Mass. schools documented to have at least 600 victories, although there are almost certainly a couple of more.

Phelan ran for a touchdown and passed for another. Dan Clasby scored three times, on an interception return and two touchdown runs. Ben O'Donnell had the Rams' other TD.

“It's what he can do,” Northbridge coach Ken LaChapelle said of Phelan. “He is such a great athlete that it's hard to shut him down. A couple of teams have done it this year, but mostly it's been like (last) night.”

On this cold night, it was more about timing than pure numbers for Phelan. Of his rushing yardage, 105 came on two plays. He completed only three passes, but one was for 36 yards and another for 55. The third was part of a hook-and-ladder TD that Clasby scored after taking a lateral from Robie Sabourin.

Thanks to Phelan, the Rams had a 7-0 lead 30 seconds after the opening kickoff.

Nick Clark's return gave Northbridge the ball on its 28. On the Rams' first snap, Phelan dropped back to pass but couldn't find a receiver, so he began to run. He kept running and running until he crossed the goal line.

“He's one of the best players in Central Mass.,” Millbury coach Ray Richards said. “With someone like that, you have to try to contain him. We were able to make a couple of hits on him, but he kept going. It's not enough to just make the play — you've got to finish the play, too.

“And if you don't, you blink your eyes, you look up, and before you know it, it's a 7-0 game.”

Clasby helped make it a 14-0 game less than a minute later with a 37-yard interception return for a TD.

“That's a play,” LaChapelle said, “that can take the sting out of the other team.”

Later in the first quarter, Clasby, Phelan and Sabourin worked the hook-and-ladder along the right sideline. The play originated at the Millbury 36 and, with a missed PAT try, the Northbridge lead was 20-0.

A little more than two minutes into the second period, Clasby crashed over from the 3, and the Rams had a 26-0 lead. The final TD came in the third quarter with O'Donnell out-battling two Millbury defenders to catch a Phelan pass, O'Donnell taking it half the length of the field for the score.

Jake Ryan had four PAT kicks and ran well after Northbridge went into clock-consumption mode. He finished with 66 yards on just six carries.

The Woolies finished 5-7. They got literally within inches of the end zone thanks to a nice drive that covered 78 yards in 16 plays and took up much of the second period. But on the final play of the half, Randy Mogren was stacked up inside the 1.

Mogren, a junior, had a strong game for the Woolies. He picked up 81 yards on 19 carries and had an interception.